Kiir forms technical committee to rollout official Gazette

JUBA—President Salva Kiir on Monday formed an eight-member high-level technical committee tasked with rolling out and operationalizing the country’s Official Gazette to serve as the formal channel for publishing presidential decrees, official appointments, and official notes.

The gazette will provide a permanent, public, and legally binding record of all presidential decrees, ensuring transparency, legal certainty, and respect for the rule of law.

The committee is chaired by the Secretary-General of Government, with the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs serving as the deputy.

Other members include the Undersecretary of Information from the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology, and Postal Services; the Director-General of the National Communication Authority; the Press Secretary from the Office of the President; and the Head of Legal Administration from the Office of the President.

Additionally, the committee includes the Director of Legislation, Gazette, Publication, and Printing from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, as well as the Director of Security and Protection from the Office of the President.

The committee is tasked with implementing the South Sudan Official Gazette and improving the official website of the Office of the President.

The high-level committee is mandated to operationalize the physical gazette and e-gazette and establish a sustainable and secure system with encrypted verification features for the regular application of the Constitution and its amendments.

The e-gazette, according to presidential decree, read on state-owned TV, will be used to publish acts of Parliament, provisional orders, republican decrees, slash orders, Council of Ministers resolutions, ministerial orders, regulations and bylaws, general government notices, and legal and private notices.

The committee is tasked with being responsible for incorporating security protocols to create a secure end-to-end workflow, where original documents from the Central Registry are transcribed into the gazette using encrypted digital signatures to minimize the risk of digital manipulation or forgery.

It is tasked with improving the official presidential website by redesigning it to serve as the primary platform for the e-gazette.

The system is intended to enhance public access to information and establish a framework for formal public notification protocols, ensuring that state documents are accessible through a secure read-only interface.

The committee is mandated to address the publication backlog, identifying and categorizing all critical laws, as well as republican decrees, orders, and resolutions enacted since 2011 that need to be published promptly to ensure legal certainty.

It shall have the power to co-opt technical experts, legal draftsmen, and security consultants as it deems necessary to fulfill its mandate. All government institutions are directed to cooperate fully and provide original documents to the committee upon request.

It is also directed to complete its technical assessment, workflow design, and resource allocation within 14 days from the date of this order.